Driver who boasted on Twitter of hitting cyclist fined £667

Emma Way, 22, of Norfolk has been found guilty on two charges after hitting a cyclist in May and subsequently posting a message on her Twitter account relating to the incident.

“Definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier. I have right of way – he doesn’t even pay road tax! #Bloodycyclists” Way said on social media website Twitter shortly after knocking cyclist Toby Hockley off his bike whilst he was taking part in the Boudicca sportive.

Norwich magistrates found Way guilty of failing to report an accident and failing to stop after an accident, but cleared her of the charge of driving without due care and attention. Way pleaded not guilty to all three of the charges levelled at her.

Way received fines totalling £667 and seven points on her driving licence.

“The tweet was spur of the moment. It was ridiculous and stupid and I apologise to all cyclists,” Way said after the conviction, according to BBC Norfolk. “It is the biggest regret of my life so far.”

According to national cyclists’ charity CTC, the maximum she could have received for her convictions is six months in prison, a discretionary driving ban, £5,000 fine and 10 penalty points. “She clearly got off very lightly indeed,” the organisation commented.

Mike

Tim, please don’t feed the troll, that is what they love. It is a bogus post.

Ken Evans

#Bloodycyclists—-Was that a medical description of the injuries she had given him ? (BLOODY)

Peter Craven

Stuart senior. Are you english or just a drunk motorist? Your sentences are not comprehensible. You can’t write english language and I expect it reflects in your driving abilities. You seem to be ablivious to the law which is revelant to traffic and such.

Peter Craven

As a lot of people, especially bicycle riders will know. There is nothing in English law as “road tax”.

Gaz Murphy

Agree, she got off very lightly, and without her stupidity in tweeting about it, nothing would have happened.
ZinhoFan, was that sexist dig necessary? And cyclingweekly, it says here that comments are reviewed before appearing on the website. Do you think that comment advances the debate?
Anyway, ride safely everybody.

Stewart

I gather this woman has cut a deal with the media (ITV) which will more than pay her fine! Some media have no morals and will allow people to profit from their misdemeanors !

colnago Dave

I think Stuart Senior is having a serious SENIOR moment judging by his rant. Wonder why if he is so anti bike he reads Cycling web pages
Maybe the grammar and spelling is the clue here to his intelligence level

Tim Deegan

If that’s the kind of cyclist you meet Stuart then that’s a great shame and I’m sorry you’ve had that experience, tho I’d suggest to you that the idea that they do anything “just to annoy motorists” is unlikely. I have read posts on the bikeradar blog, from cyclists, of amazingly rude and intolerant cycling commuters who frankly I wouldn’t let near a car if I had the power for fear they would behave the same behind the wheel and kill people like flies.

But they are probably in a minority. You will tend to notice the bad ones I’m afraid but the rest of us try and do our best and its worth remembering that the vast majority of us are also motorists ourselves, paying our “road tax” and so on.

I’ve no sympathy at all for Emma Way I’m afraid- her greatest regret appears to be the tweet, i.e. that she didn’t get away with it. She was punished extremely lightly and appears to have been given a very generous benefit of the doubt re: careless driving charge, she needs to wise up and understand that the planets don’t all revolve around her.

stuart senior

if you ride a bike your imune on the rd were the police are concerned im sure if you robbed a bank on a bike you would get away with seems blair wanting to get every one but himself on a bike told the law to turn blind eye

stuart senior

cyclist are a pain no lights on there bikes go through red lights barge through on crossings ride on side walks one way streets are both ways to them and ignore cycle paths just to annoy motorists speed limits are ass fast as thay can go i live near llandudno thay go round the great ormthe wrong way the speed is 30 thay get up to 40 thay treat pedestrians the same as car drivers treat them

Mike

Who among us is surprised in the slightest that she got off with this offence, even though she admitted and bragged about it on twitter? Raise your hand now. What no one? thought not.

ZinhoFan

Well what do you expect from a woman! Almost bragging about it. What a tw*t!!

Tim Deegan

As they said, very light punishment. Lucky he wasn’t badly injured or she would have been hammered.

Time to grow up love, or go back to playing with matchbox cars, not real ones.

Martin Kennedy

When are other road users going to be educated about this so-called “Road Tax” that car drivers use as a justification for being aggressive towards cyclists.
When will the government and motoring organisations explain to one and all that there is no such thing as road tax anymore.
We all pay for road maintenance via income tax.
Motorists pay an excise duty called VED (vehicle excise duty) for the privilege of using their cars on the road.

Colnago dave

Another wasted opportunity for the judicial system to ram home the message to motorists that we are vulnerable.
I’m not naive enough to believe that cyclists are perfect but we invariably come off the worse in accidents.
This summer I was overtaken by an elderly lady driving a sports car on a blind bend complete with a hidden dip and double white lines in the road, she also nearly knocked me off and when I shouted at her she then stopped still in the middle of the bend to tell me the roads were too narrow for her and cyclists and we had no right to be on them.

Unless the courts send out messages that we have a right to the roads then this type of motorist will never get the message.

Dour Scot

Thankfully she was not only aggressive but stupid with it or she’d never have been traced.

Connect with us

Get our free email newsletter

Your email address:

By submitting your details, you will also receive emails from Time Inc. UK, publisher of Cycling Weekly and other iconic brands about its goods and services, and those of its carefully selected third parties. Please tick here if you’d prefer not to hear about:

Time Inc.'s goods & services, including all the latest news, great deals and offers